


your soul you must keep

by kathleenfergie



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology, Hellenistic Religion & Lore
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Autumn, F/M, Freeform, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Persephone Cycle, modern setting sort of???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-04
Updated: 2015-11-04
Packaged: 2018-04-29 21:15:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5142698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kathleenfergie/pseuds/kathleenfergie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>(totally free)</i>
</p><p>
  <i>she returns.</i>
</p><p>persephone comes home. oneshot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	your soul you must keep

**Author's Note:**

> idek what this is okay but it's fall and i keep making flower crowns and i'm in a persephone mood/atmosphere rn so yeah here take this weird freeform thing

she returns, thanatos leaping into her arms, crying out _“mother!”_ with a glee that she rarely sees from the boy. the title had once seemed odd to her, this young one loving her so openly after only a short time married to hades. but she does love him, and squeezes his thin cheeks, looking warmly into his blank eyes, his sunglasses were pulled over his hair, blond tips sticking out every which way.

“has your father fed you at all?” she gasped, gripping his gangly limbs and pulling them out to assess the damage of her months away.

“i know how to cook just fine, _thank_ you.” persephone rolled her eyes and the boy smiled, knowing what must be flashing across her face. “plus, you know father. if it weren’t for cerberus chasing him home, i doubt we’d ever see him. cate’s been helping him with the tours, you know, to lift at least some of his load off.”

persephone laughed, shoving totes and a suitcase at her estranged step-son, dragging more luggage behind her as she entered her home after six months away. it was not her first faraway vigil and would not be the last, but coming home to the large house that sat just off hades’ cemetery filled her with such strong nostalgia.

thanatos deposited her things in the living room, persephone spotting hecate curled up near the fire, textbooks surrounding her sleeping form. she would have to remind hades to acquire more wood if that girl was going to make it through the winter next to burning logs. she looked almost ten years younger in her sleep, the twenty three year old growing wiser with each day's passing.

“she took on extra credit assignments to finish before the new semester, so she’s been like this a lot,” thanatos explains, already beginning to root through persephone’s things in search of sweets. “you brought demeter’s oatmeal cookies, yes?”

“of course, child. she practically fills my pockets with them,” she laughed, reaching into a specific bag, pulling out a braille music book. “here, apollo made this for you; kept him from chasing skirts and annoying his sister. he wants you to call him and play some things so that he knows you haven’t forgiven up on the harp forever. claimed he’d fly all the way up here to whip you if you did.”

the boy blushed, his musical hobby a private affair, save for the high school orchestra he was cajoled into joining by his cousin.

“thank you, mother,” he smiled, pressing a kiss to her cheek before soaring off to his room, hands gripping the book so tightly that his knuckles paled. she chuckled softly before going to hecate, settling down on the floor beside the beautiful girl.

after a slight nudge and soft whispers of her name, hecate cracked an eye open, the haziness of sleep making her greet her step-mother casually.

“hey, lady,” the child called her, affectionately, rubbing a hand across her face. she let out a great yawn and closed her eyes again, snuggling further into her blanket. 

she was not as keen on _mother_ as thanatos was, but persephone was perfectly fine with _lady_. that she had been accepted so fully into the family was enough for her. 

“i know i’m not meant to have my books by the fire, but father _refuses_ to turn the heat on until it’s actually the first day of autumn.”

“that’s alright, love,” persephone grinned, lying down next to her, arms going around the young woman. her hades, always the stubborn one. “he’ll turn it on now that i’m home. thanatos says you’ve been working yourself ragged.”

“you know me,” hecate replied, yawning again. “work, work, work, until i’m an old hag.”

“old?” persephone laughed, arms squeezing her step-daughter teasingly. “never. surely you’ll be a little girl again soon enough, dancing through my green house, tugging up weeds.”

“i always pulled out the wrong shit and you know it,” she hummed, sleep still wrapped around her. they were quiet for a time, hecate resting against persephone's side as the older woman stroked a hand through her hair. 

“how’d the harvest go?”

persephone huffed, previous ill feelings surfacing. 

“my damn mother nearly broke her leg in the fields chasing after my cousins,” she began. “you’d think apollo and artemis would stop getting themselves into mischief now that they’re adults, but it only seems that the years give them more ideas. apollo sneaks around, setting hay bales on fire and artemis lays traps around the house at night. i nearly peed myself in the hallway after tripping over one of her wires.

“athena, as always, was lovely. that girl," persephone paused, shaking her head free of her difficult cousins. "she just opened a book and wares shop that you’d absolutely love. ares got himself into trouble with some men from town and i had to cajole him not to murder anybody for the reputation of his sister's store and my mother's farms. he's always bringing that shit home with him."

persephone perused her memories of the last few months, humming to herself.

“thankfully zeus and hera only visited for a short time. she’s too busy being elbow deep in placenta these days and my mother can’t be in the same room as zeus for more than two minutes before blowing a fuse.” she sighed, the relationship she held with her father a difficult topic. “she tried to hold this large dinner and invited all that she could, and i don’t think i’ve ever seen poseidon that sloshed. i think dionysus was forcefully pouring wine down uncle’s throat.”

“our family’s so fucked,” hecate whispered into her step-mother's chest, bunching the fabric of her sweater in one fist.

“that part of it, yes,” persephone agreed. “but i rather like this part.”

* * *

she waved to nyx as she entered the cemetery, the woman partially raising her eyebrows at her employer's wife. she was only slightly younger than persephone but had, unfortunately, not been interested in any form of friendship. she made her way past the morgue where hermes and charon were no doubt in a debate about some kind of embalming method, thanking styx and achlys for pointing her in the direction of her husband. she watched them for a moment, the young, strong girls digging trenches in the gardens for the winter planting. achlys had the features of her mother but more kindness and smiled brightly at persephone, red cheeks beaming.

cerberus howled in the distance and she knew he must be guarding the glorious dead from heinous squirrels and raccoons. his kingdom would be safe for now, persephone assured the spirits. 

she spotted the figure of her husband crouched low at a familiar grave, his hunched shoulders moving as he replaced withered flowers. he stood, shaking dirt from his knees and palms, wincing at the pop in his bones.

“you’re far too old to be doing this yourself nowadays, my love,” she called as she drew near, hugging her sweater close as a chilly breeze floated past. he looked up in surprise, a smile spreading across his tanned face, curls swept in front of his eyes by the wind.

“i’d rather not condemn the young ones to this job just yet,” he explained, coming to take her in his arms, soft kisses placed against her brow. “i’d rather they not know the forgotten.”

persephone looked up at hades with a sadness in her eyes, small tears forming as she realized the weight of his words.

“the boy?” she asked and hades shook his head.

“betrothed again,” he sighed. “he sent me a letter, asking me to take care of her. new fiancée doesn’t fancy visiting the dead wife’s grave.”

“poor girl,” his wife moaned, eyes flicking to eurydice’s grave. “i had hoped that he would stay.”

“hoped to condemn the young man to suffer beside her?” hades quirked a brow, earning a dejected shrug from persephone, who leant against him. “no matter, we shall take care of her, as we always have.”

“good,” she said quietly. “dare i ask how you spent your days without me?”

hades laughed, throwing his head back to look at the clouds before kissing his wife slowly. 

“i went to parent-teacher night,” he grumbled after, annoyance clear in his tone. “i wish i had brought cerb with me. the music teacher dared to suggest that thanatos wasn’t fit to be in the program.”

“the bastard has _no_ idea what he’s talking about, darling. you know how everyone is with him. i’m sure thanatos appreciated it, though.” persephone smiled into his jacket. “athena sent a gift for you; i think it’s a gravedigger’s manual, some kind of joke she knew you'd like.”

“clever one, that girl,” hades laughed.

“yes. we should move her out here, get her away from the farm.” hades hummed as his wife mused, hand rubbing against her back. “she let me help with weaving and it was almost like playing with my plants, braiding them together to form wreaths and bouquets. mother only let me keep a small garden. all she cares about is the harvest so dirt is rarely spared and it took more than a month to get it looking less than sickly.”

“your greenhouse has missed you, truly, my darling.” hades let go of her but kept an arm on persephone's shoulders, guiding her back to the house.

“i’m sure alecto, tisiphone, and megaera have left it in dismay, the poor things.” hades chuckled, dimples deepening at he looked down on his wife.

“this is why you do not leave your most prized possessions in the hands of women who _plot_ out the land _instead_ of plant it,” he chastised teasingly, squeezing her shoulder. “i’d have set hecate to it, but we both know she has a complete lack of a green thumb and is far too stressed at the moment with school and tours of the older cemetery.”

“she likes that, though, as i’m sure you know,” persephone replied, smiling softly at him. he nodded, leaning down to kiss her brow again. “and she’s good with herbs, just not flowers. you should have seen last year’s tulips. obscene, hades, i tell you.”

“yes, of course, dear,” he humoured her, leading her into the house, hecate still at the fire and thanatos’ music filtering down the staircase.

cerberus nearly attacked her, his large faces rubbing against her smile, too many slobbery tongues placing sloppy kisses onto her cheeks. she laughed, allowing the large dog to devour her before calling mercy, settling next to the beast and stroking his soft belly on the kitchen floor.

“welcome home,” hades whispered, coming to rest beside her, back against a cabinet. persephone laughed, warmth spreading across her face, one the sun would never understand how to create.

“welcome, indeed,” she said back, eyes glassy with happy tears.

fin


End file.
